Inspector General Warns Public About SSA Employee Impersonation Scheme
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: August 19, 2021
The Acting Inspector General of Social Security, Gale Stallworth Stone, is warning citizens about a new Social Security Administration (SSA) employee impersonation scheme. SSA and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have recently alerted citizens about an OIG employee impersonation scheme and a scheme targeting former clients of Kentucky disability attorney Eric Conn; the agencies are now receiving reports from citizens across the country about other phone calls from an individual posing as an SSA employee. The caller attempts to acquire personally identifiable information from victims to then edit the victims’ direct deposit, address, and telephone information with SSA.
The reports indicate that the impersonator calls from a telephone number with a 323 area code. The caller claims to be an SSA employee, and in some instances, tells the victim that they are due a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase of their Social Security benefits. The impersonator goes on to ask the victim to verify all of their personal information including their name, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), parents’ names, etc. to receive the increase. If the impersonator is successful in acquiring this information, they use it to contact SSA and request changes to the victim’s direct deposit, address, and telephone information.
SSA employees occasionally contact citizens by telephone for customer-service purposes. In only a few limited special situations, usually already known to the citizen, an SSA employee may request the citizen confirm personal information over the phone. If a person receives a suspicious call from someone alleging to be from SSA, citizens may report that information to the OIG at 1-800-269-0271 or online via https://oig.ssa.gov/report.
Acting Inspector General Stone continues to warn citizens to be cautious, and to avoid providing information such as your SSN or bank account numbers to unknown persons over the phone or internet unless you are certain of who is receiving it. “You must be very confident that the source is the correct business party, and your information will be secure after you release it,” Stone said.
If a person has questions about any communication—email, letter, text or phone call—that claims to be from SSA or the OIG, please contact your local Social Security office, or call Social Security’s toll-free customer service number at 1-800-772-1213, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, to verify its legitimacy. (Those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can call Social Security’s TTY number at 1-800-325-0778.)
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Tags: fraud, Inspector General, Office of the Inspector General, OIG
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Andrew Cannarsa, OIG Communications Director
Andrew Cannarsa, OIG Communications Director
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Ennis H.
could you make it easier to make a complaint about scam phone calls and #s. I have had 9 calls today, using number from Florida and California.
HASU T.
I got phone calls several times from 1-800-309-3957 threatening regarding stopping the social security.
Ann C.
Thanks for letting us know, Hasu. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a site specific to Social Security scams, here. We hope this helps.
Sidnei D.
I think it was a spam call got two of them from different no. I block them they tell that my number has been used and they need my info. So when they asked that I hung up and blocked the call they did it again today but instead of calling they left a text and wanted me to hit #1 to confirm and yet they left no number to return call.
Luis A.
Hi Sidnei. Thanks for letting us know. We do not usually make random calls. If anyone receives calls saying they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams, here. Just a reminder – please be cautious about posting personal information on social media. We hope this helps.
Vivienne K.
Please do something about the spam calls. I use due diligence where unrecognized callers come up on my phone. I utilize the BLOCK caller feature as well as an app the scans for spam calls. Many of the calls are local and hard to ignore. How can a person know if an unrecognized caller isn’t a legitamite call to inform me of an emergency . My point is; blocking a spam is not always efficient. With today’s technology, there has to be a solution.
George Y.
I received a phone message from a person claiming to be from Social Security and suspending my account. The message requested I press 1 for further information. The caller ID reported the number as 866 848 5143. Hopefully this is helpful. I don’t know how to report this. The above posted link is not helpful as that site seems to be for reporting fraud only.
Joseph A.
Have received 2 phone calls from people claiming to be from SSA stating that SSA is launching action because of “fraudulent activity” on my account. Did not respond. Assumed SCAM.
Luis A.
Joseph, thank you for letting us know about these calls. We do not usually make random calls. If you or anyone receives calls saying that they are from Social Security, do not give out any personal information. Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams here. We hope this helps.
CHRISTINE P.
THATS MY MOTHER FIRST DAUGHTER
Joyce A.
I received a text message saying ” this call is from the Department of Social security administration the reason you have _____call from our department is to inform you that we just suspend your Social Security number because we found some suspicious activity so if you want to know about this case just press one thank you…”
Nancy S.
Fraudulent caller from “SSA” using 800-917-7619 calling my cell # with recording of “suspicious activity” reported on my SSA account. Possible ID of “Robert”
Vonda V.
Hi Nancy. Thank you for letting us know about the call. Unfortunately there are some Social Security impersonation schemes that we are warning citizens about.
Suspicious calls should be reported to the Office of the Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online at http://www.oig.ssa.gov/report. You can also report these scams to the Federal Trade Commission through a new site specific to Social Security scams here http://www.identitytheft.gov/SSA.
Cheryl
I would hope this would be on Fox News